After years of the US arming and supporting the various Syrian rebels,
they could quickly become a big problem, and a heavily armed enemy, as
the rebel commanders say they are ready to join Turkey’s oft-threatened invasion of Syrian Kurdistan.
The US has opposed a Turkish invasion of this area, and has kept
American ground troops there to try to deter Turkey. Turkey has made
clear they intend to ultimately carry this operation out, however, and
they’ll have some 14,000 rebels with them.
This was always going to be an issue because Turkey has a problem with
the Kurds. That the US-backed Kurdish invasion of ISIS territory left
them in control of historical Arab territory has also got the rebels
seeing this as an opportunity to get some land.
Kurdish officials are urging international intervention to keep Turkey
out, saying they believe that the Erdogan government will invade the
first chance they get without something preventing them from doing so.
Time for the Kurds to recognize that the US used them and true to form, will now discard them. Time for the Kurds to rejoin “Team Assad” and escort the Syrian Arab Army up to the Turkish border in strength.
The rebels do not have an air force.
The Kurds need to realize that only Russia and Assad can save them and start to negotiate seriously to rejoin Syria as a federated party. Russia can bring Turkey to heel – Russia needs to do that in Idlib and can also extend that to the Kurds if they agree to rejoin Syria. Controlling Turkey can be difficult in this respect, but Russia can mediate between Turkey and the Kurds and Assad and has the ability to pressure all the parties to come to an agreement.
Controlling Turkey is not the issue here. Never was. Turkey has made sure that the groups US armed came under their control because of US betrayal. Miraculously, ISIS came from nowhere, fully armed and computerized – and made Arabs flee for life from the Turkish Syrian border — creating a string of ISIS controlled townships and villages. The expelled Arabs placed faith in US to help them, as Assad was perceived to be weak and unable to control border. And when Kurds with US help took Manbij — kicking out Arab population — this was a wake up call to everyone. Clearly, ISIS was a placeholder to give way to Kurds to insure that the entire Turkish border on both sides was controlled by Kurds with US reinforcements all along. The message received loud and clear. Turkey then entered at Jarabulus, kicking out ISIS and then destroyed ISIS all the way to Al-Bab, where it connected with Syrian Army territory. This cut off Kurds from US supported Kobane and YPG controlled Afrin — and stopped any further incursion of US supported Kurds into Arab territory along Turkish border and beyond. Following this, Turkey defeated YPG in Afrin. How did Turkey succeed? This is a large Kurdish territory. Because YPG had no support. Population was favoring a deal brokered by Russia to reintegrate Afrin into Syria. US encouraged YPG to resist, making it necessary to remove them by force. The area was a smuggling heaven for arms to Assad’s enemies, a virtual highway of smugglers from US controlled Kurds in the east, across Kurdish territory in Turkey. Now, Idlib had lost supply route.
Now, the remaining arms smuggling to Turkish Kurds is across area east of Euphrates — from US controlled area. And Turkey plans to plug it.
As for Arabs, they are not there to just get some land — but to recover what Kurds took from them — still the once majority Arab populated towns and villages are kept by Kurds, not to mention towns like Raqqa, Euphrates valley and Deir Azzor. They are trying to get THEIR homes back. This is why Turkey is effective here. While Damascus and Russia are trying to cut a deal with Kurds — Turkey is going after YPG, US supported militia. Kurds must make some decisions. The idea that US will stand by them while they hold other people’s homes — will not work ling term. More and more Arabs from that region will join Turkish commanded militias. Way beyond what US once armed.
So does this mean Washington will abandon the Syrian al-Qaeda rebels?
Lol…..chicken coming home to roost.
The US policy has always been shortsighted.